According to the latest numbers from app intelligence company Priori Data, Fortnite has seen its biggest iOS revenue surge since October 2018, generating upwards of $2.8m daily on the release of its latest season and more than quadrupling its daily pre-season net revenue overnight.

Following two years of expansion, the global microcontroller (MCU) market is set to stall in 2019 because of a combination of factors, including a downturn in the wider electronics industry and rising geopolitical tensions.

Electronic control units (ECUs) are playing an increasingly critical role in the automotive industry, driving the development of safer, smarter, cleaner and better-connected cars. As a result, global automotive ECU revenue is expected to soar to $211 billion in 2030, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5 percent from $122 billion in 2018, according to IHS Markit forecasts. This robust expansion follows a strong year in 2018, when revenue rose 6.9 percent from $114 billion in 2017.

Industry giant Epic Games has announced that it’s in the process of acquiring San Diego-based studio Psyonix, who develops the very popular vehicular-soccer game Rocket League. The title is one of the biggest cross-platform games, second only to Epic’s Fortnite, and with more than 57 million lifetime players it represents the company’s most significant acquisition to date.

A total of 4.3 gigawatts (GW) of grid-connected energy storage will be deployed globally in 2019 – annual installations will grow to more than 10.6 GW by 2025. Annual grid-connected energy storage hardware revenues are projected to grow from $3.7 billion in 2018 to $8.4 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12 percent.

Following four consecutive quarters of negative growth in 2018, the global smartphone market continued to struggle in the first quarter of 2019, suffering a 6.3 percent year-over-year decline in shipments.
Smartphone shipments totaled 323.8 million units in the first quarter of 2019, down from 345.6 million during the first quarter of 2018 according to preliminary smartphone data by IHS Markit.

A few days ago, Blizzard introduced the Overwatch Workshop: a simplified scripting system which expands the customization features available in the Game Browser, and is intended to be accessible to all users. The Overwatch Workshop has been well-received by fans, who have relished the chance to engage with the familiar content on a new level.

Unit shipments of driver integrated circuits (ICs) declined 3 percent, year over year, to reach 7.9 billion units in 2018, while revenue rose 0.4 percent to reach $6 billion. As the average unit price of driver ICs continues to fall, revenue will also decline to $5.9 billion in 2019. In 2022, demand for driver ICs will once again grow to 7.7 billion units, but lower prices mean revenue growth will remain in negative territory.

The Snapchat-based Snap Games service allows users to play with their friends in real-time and is inspired by Asian messaging giants WeChat, Line and Kakao. It also follows recent forays into the gaming space by Google and Apple. Integrated text and voice chat functions and the emphasis on casual multiplayer ease the consumer transition from social media to games - especially for the many non-gamers in the existing Snapchat audience.

Key information from China released over the past two weeks indicate that China’s 4G LTE capital expenditures (capex) totaled $17.3 billion in 2018, which is 8.5 percent above the initial plan. Among the three Chinese service providers – China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom – China Mobile was responsible for much of the increase in plan, spending $1.5 billion more than its initial plan released in March 2018.

It is hard to find businesses not using unified communications (UC) in some fashion, as the barriers to adoption don’t outweigh the benefits of UC. The fundamentals remain the same: businesses are deploying UC to improve employee productivity while reducing operational costs.

At the ISH 2019 trade fair this year, leading companies competing in the home and building automation sector were once again present in Frankfurt, Germany, showcasing their latest products and advances, with a highlight on open protocols and cloud-based architectures. There was additional emphasis placed on building information modelling (BIM) services, as this is a topic of substantial industry interest.

US technology giant Apple today announced a number of new and updated features for its device and content platforms. Developments included new content subscription services, revamped content platforms and updated payment systems.